User blog:Jackythejack/No Normal World Anymore: Katniss vs Rick Grimes
People are generally living fairly normal lives. You wake up, eat breakfast, and do what you have to do to survive, even if you live in an impoverished state or some random place in the middle of Georgia. However, sometimes an event can happen that'll shatter everything you thought was normal, and send you on the way of becoming something more, something like a hero. Ladies and gentlemen, no matter what, a hero will be taking their first win here. Katniss Everdeen; The Girl on Fire, who became a symbol of revolution in Panem after participating in the Hunger Games vs. Rick Grimes; Former sherrif who, after waking from a coma, found himself in a world full of zombies, and was thrust into the role of a leader. Katniss Everdeen |-|Katniss Everdeen= The world of Panem is a little strange. Taking place in the ruins of a United States after some unknown event have happened to destory society, the remains of America was split up into thirteen districts, all focusing on one major resource, and all of them having their own economic status. Katniss came from District 12, the District presumably in the Appalachians that focused on coal mining. Though, it was also the poorest district in the entire nation of Panem, as well. Panem was also known to hold a yearly competition known as the Hunger Games, used by the government to demonstrate just how much power they have over you. Two children, one boy and one girl, between the ages of 13 to 17 is picked at random to represent each district. They will then be put into an arena to fight the children from the other districts in a fight that would only end in death. When Katniss' younger sister, Prim, was chosen, Katniss volunteered as tribute instead, and joined the Hunger Games alongside a boy named Peeta. Over the course of the Hunger Games, she'd be forced to fight for her life, barely surviving, and slowly gaining feelings for the boy named Peeta, after they cheat the system of the Hunger Games and let both of them win. Afterwards, Katniss would participate in the Hunger Games once again before becoming a leader of the rebellion against the government, uncovering the thought to be destroyed District 13, and the rebellion that resided there, and imprisoning President Snow, all the while being alongside Peeta, who she would eventually marry and have children with. |-| Bow= The bow is Katniss' signature weapon. Even before she was a part of the rebellion, or before she even joined the Hunger Games, she had been taught how to use the bow. Before the chaos that started in her life, the bow was only used for hunting, and she was taught by her father how to use it. The bow she uses in the Mockingjay, when she joins the rebellion, is a custom made, military-grade bow. With even a normal bow Katniss is able to shoot an arrow hundreds of feet into the air, and is deadly accurate with it, but we can get to that later. |-|Knife = The knife that Katniss uses is a serrated knife, with the blade seeming to be around seven to ten inches in length, but it's hard to tell for certain. It has a nice grip on it and is useful for stabbing and slashing, but Katniss more often than not doesn't resort to getting up close and personal with her killing. Rick Grimes |-| Rick Grimes= Rick Grimes was originally the sheriff of King County, Georgia. One day during a shootout in a different county, who's sheriff's department he was assisting, he was left critically injured, almost dead, and had to be admitted into the hospital. Little did he know that this would change his life forever. After going in and out of the coma for a couple of days, then when he finally woke up, he would be in a completely different world altogether. A world where the dead are walking the earth. Violent, hungry, bloodthirsty undead who would kill anything in sight. Rick went home shortly after he discovered this, going home to get his wife Lori and his son Carl so that they can get to a safer place. This is far easier said than done, however, as the world was now filled with walking corpses and crazed and violent survivors who would be more than willing to kill you if it furthered their own goals. The world would be testing him constantly, and one can only wonder how much this one man could possible handle... |-| Colt Python= The most iconic weapon that the sheriff uses is a revolver, which is identified as a Colt Python. It's a weapon with six bullets in the chamber, and has a pretty good range to it, coming in at around 75 meters. The gun itself takes .357 magnum rounds and can pack quite a wallop. There's a reason why it has been made for around fifty years, after all. Good ol' reliable. |-| Hand axe= The one handed axe, while maybe not looking exactly like this, is still a weapon used by the zombie killer known as Rick Grimes. The weapon is capable of cutting up far more than trees when in the hands of a skilled survivor. Looking to be over a foot in length, the weapon is useful for when a Walker, or an aggressive survivor, gets too close for comfort. X-Factors Physicality Katniss, while still a teenager, has shown some impressive physicality when she's really pressed up against the wall. She can take attacks from and deal damage to superhuman mutts, which are mutations that are generally just mixing two animals together. On top of that, she was able to hold her own against someone who was trained to fight for her entire life. Not only that, but she's fast enough to dodge knives thrown at her and several attacks from holograms Rick is also pretty physically capable. He is incredibly strong, not only being able to beat a Walker to death with his bare hands, but he's even capable of tearing someone's throat out with only his teeth, and he can easily beat someone to death, or the brink of death, with his hands should he ever feel so inclined to do so. He can also easily take punches from most people, even surviving certain explosions that sent him flying. Experience Katniss' Experience, once you start getting into the nitty gritty of it, is a bit difficult to determine. She's fought in two total Hunger Games, with one forcing her to kill for survival and the other being a bit kinder on her. She's fought against actual people, has fought against mutts and other types of animals, and, during the rebellion, she's fought against the government, who are armed with guns, and with a bow she's had years of experience. However, it's difficult to tell how long the rebellion lasted for and how often Katniss found herself on the field of battle. Rick, meanwhile, has quite a bit of experience himself. He was a sherrif before the world had practically ended, after all, and because of this he likely has experience apprehending criminals and using that gun of his. During the zombie apocalypse he would only get better at fighting, killing groups of Walkers with some impressive headshots and even fighting those such as the Governor or Neegan. He's been through several harsh winters, a cannibal camp, countless walker attacks, and even went up against a Walker horde that was in the thousands and killed all of them. Training Katniss was originally not trained much at all before or during the Hunger Games. Her training prior to and during the Hunger Games was mostly how to survive and how to forage for food, while ocassionally being taught how to use the bow more efficiently, but it was stuff she generally knew already. With her joining the rebellion, however, she was given proper training, which one could argue would rival that of a military's training, given that District 13 was very militarized. Rick was trained to be a sherrif before the world ended, but that was around where his training sort of ended. The most that you can get after the world ended was learning how to shoot better by those who may or may not know what they're talking about. However, his actual formal training in being a law enforcement officer is better than some of the people that Rick either encounters or fights. Accuracy Katniss is crazy accurate with his weapons when she needs to be. Not only can she already shoot arrows hundreds of feet into the air, but she can also easily shoot an apple out of a pig's mouth when it was a few dozen feet away, in a room full of crowded people. She's also able to easily kill a bird while it is in flight, can purposefully graze a bag to make it's contents fall out, and is able to out-archer a holographic archer before it could even attack her. Her quick draw is also impressive, not taking her long at all to put an arrow in the bowstring and firing. Rick's accomplishments can also be marvelled at, considering that some of the stuff he does is pretty absurd. He often scores headshots on his opponents with his trusty Colt Python, which is already impressive when you consider that a revolver may not always be accurate. He's also able to shot the individual fingers off a person in pure darkness with his same Colt Python, and it's not like he was close up. It was a good twelve feet away from the man. One of his most recent feats was him accurately shooting an explosive that was surrounded by zombies while he was several dozen feet away. The Battle The fight will take place in a city experiencing major overgrowth, meaning that there’s an urban and forest environment for both combatants to use, with shrubbery being thicker and harder to navigate or see through in specific parts of the city. The Sim Over the years, due to lack of human civilization, this old, urban metropolis had since been overgrown with vegetation. Mother Nature had gone back to reclaim her landscape, and because of that, vines were spreading across the walls of skyscrapers, towering over anyone who walked below. Trees were spouting out of cracks in concrete. What used to be regulated parks were suddenly growing into bustling shurbbery that'd be difficult for even the most skilled survivalists to navigate. And of course, there were the undead. They were shambling corpses, shadows of their former selves. They did nothing for the ecosystem, and in fact the only thing they contributed was a horrid smell and breaking the peaceful silence of nature. With their undead moaning and the wind whistling through ripped open throats, it was difficult to get any peace and quiet out in the open. One of these undead corpses was currently feasting on some poor, unfortunate corpse that got shot down doing god knows what and pissing off god knows who. Either way, the corpse was zed food. Zombies were unnaturally good at ripping off chunks of flesh, and this walker was fresh, meaning it had strength behind it. The corpse it was kneeling over was nothing but a bloody mess at this point, unidentifiable. There was a sudden whizzing sound going through the air, and an arrow would pierce the zombie's head, penetrating it and going directly through it, sending bits of grey matter, brain chunks and blood across the plant-covered sidewalk. The corpse slumped over for a moment before falling onto it's side, a thump being silenced by the amount of grass that had grown. Stepping away from the window of a building, about one hundred feet away, was Katniss Everdeen. She had holed herself up in one of the nearby apartment buildings. Night was approaching, and she wanted to make sure the perimeter around her building was clear of those corpses before she took a nap. She had half a mind to shoot an arrow into the corpse the zombie was feasting on, but she decided against it, knowing she needed to save all the arrows that she could. No one knew how those damn deads were able to come back to life, but it quickly caused chaos throughout Panem when the virus struck. People died surprisingly quick. The Peacekeepers were absolutely useless in the end, all of them succumbing to the virus themselves. They tried their best to quell the disease, but countless deaths due to the chaos caused by the disease had lead to it only spreading even faster. Capitol fell quickly, and the rest of the districts came shortly after. That was years ago, and now those who were able to survive the initial outbreak were left struggling for food and resources. That was the whole reason why Katniss was out there in the first place. She had set up a camp with her, Peeta, and Gale's families, and accepted a select group of people to help them against the undead hordes and unforgiving nature, but they were running out of food. The already famished District 12 could only supply so much, and their hunting grounds were starting to become barren due to their overhunting. Katniss had the idea to move out to District 11 to see if the orchard fields hadn't been stripped bare yet, and bring some of the food back. Unfortunately, the border between District 11 and District 12 had been completely wrecked. Not only was it infested with the undead in certain parts, but other parts were filled with violent survivors who didn't hesitate to shoot on site, raving lunatics, and places that were, through means unknown to Katniss, armed with landmines. All of it was too dangerous to traverse, so she had to make a cut through the Capital, which was how she ended up in this overgrown nightmare of a city. Of course, now that she was out and about, she realized that it would have been a smarter idea to bring Gale or Peeta along with her. The world had become a lot more dangerous, and having an extra pair of eyes and, in Gale's case, an extra bow, along with her would have been a good idea. Though, it was far too late to head back now. The orchards should be close by, only half a day's travel, and then it was collecting as much as she could, pack a few seeds to go with them, and head back to her base in District 12. Though, the journey would have to wait for the morning. Night was coming, and it was suicide to go out there alone in the dark. Katniss stepped over towards her makeshift sleeping arrangements. It wasn't much, just a towel and a handmade pillow stuffed with straw, both laid out halfhazardly on the floor of this unfurnished house that she happened to set up shop in for the night. It wasn't anything comfortable, but it was easy to transport and pack with her, and if she really needed to she could use her backpack as a pillow. She honestly felt like she was back in the Hunger Games again... "Well, good night, Katniss," she muttered before laying down and resting her head against the straw pillow, closing her eyes and forcing her body to drift off to sleep. The early bird gets the worm, and the walking corpse gets the bird who sleeps in too late. ... She woke up to the sounds of footprints nearby, and her eyes slowly opened. She saw a man, looking like quite the rugged survivor with those ragedy looking clothes that had certianly seen better days, walking around her makeshift campsite. He was distracted looking at her bow and arrow, possibly tempted to take it from her. As Katniss' eyes widened and she tried to think of a way out, the man must have felt her eyes on him, because he looked directly at her. They stared at each other for a moment, pure silence. "Listen, I-" Katniss grabbed the handle of her knife and lunged forward, swiping her blade towards the man's legs. He stumbled back and ended up falling onto his rear end. Katniss scurried to her feet, scooping up her bow and quiver of arrows, and ran towards the opposite side of the apartment. She kicked the door open and spun around for a second. She notched and arrow and pulled back on the string. "Calm down, we can-" The arrow whizzed through the air and Rick quickly ducked his head down. He was lucky Katniss was caught off guard, otherwise it would have gone right through his head. "I just wanna talk!" Talk? Yeah, right. That's what a different group of survivors had said before trying to jump her, just a couple days back. She wasn't going to fall for a trick like that again. This man clearly had ill will for her. She ran out of the apartment and down the hallway, towards the stairway of the complex. Just as she was at the end of the hallway, she turned around and notched another arrow. With a quick pull of the drawstring, she let go the moment that she saw Rick step out of the apartment. The arrow wizzed through the air and, this time, her aim was accurate. It hit him in the shoulder, and the officer screamed out in pain, allowing Katniss to run down the stairways to the complex. That man was likely armed. She needed to get out of here. She had rushed down the stairs and was about to leave the complex when she realized that she couldn't just let the man live. Now that she wounded him pretty bad, he was going to have a vendetta against her. Who knows what that guy would do. He could hunt her down when she leasts expects it. If she wanted to be safe, she had to get rid of him permanently. Realizing that she was going to have to kill yet another person, something she hadn't truly done since the rebellion years prior, she steeled herself and quickly ran off to get some sort of cover .The shrubbery around the city reminded her of the arena where she had her first Hunger Games. Maybe she could call back on those instincts once again? She better, otherwise she's not going to get out alive... ... Rick had to admit, he....was hoping that'd go a little bit better. Honestly when he first came across the apartment, he thought that the girl was either dead or wasn't going to wake up before he made it out of there. He wasn't planning on stealing anything, he just was wondering about the setup the girl had, and he had to admit that it seemed like she was living rather intelligently, though...then things went downhill fast. The arrow that lodged itself into his shoulder hurt like hell, and because of that he found his arm not quite able to move as well as it could have. He needed to get a doctor, and he needed to talk that girl down without getting any more arrows into his body. Both seemed easier said than done in this hellhole. Realizing he didn't have much else of a choice, Rick moved on, running as fast as he could, but everytime he moved his arm, a small wave of pain would shoot down his body, causing him to wince with every movement he made. As he made it halfway down the staircase, he decided that he may as well just pull it out. He's survived worse. He bundled up some cloth and stuck it in his mouth for him to bite on, and to muffle any scream he could make. Didn't want to attract the undead to his location, after all. He placed the cloth in his mouth, grabbed the arrow, and forcefully yanked it out of his shoulder. Thankfully, it didn't give much resistance, and after a few moments of agony, he grabbed a roll of bandages and wrapped them around his shoulder to stop any possible bleeding. It still felt like shit, but it was better than nothing. With his injury taken care of, he was back on course again, hurrying down the stairs so that he could head out of the apartment. That girl was going to give him a lot of problems in the future if he didn't take care of her now, one way or another. He wouldn't want to kill her, but if it came down to that...well, he wasn't afraid to do so. He stepped outside of the apartment and looked around. For a moment, he saw nothing, until he looked further down the street and noticed a girl with her bow drawn, facing right at him. He cursed under his breath and ran towards the nearby treeline, just as an arrow whizzed past his head, which would have surely killed him. This was going to be worse than he thought. ... Her aim was off, and Katniss knew that. She wasn't sure if it was due to the sheer surprise of the man's appearance, her reluctance to kill someone, or her just haven gotten out of bed, but she was wasting more arrows than she'd prefer, which not only allowed that man to get away, but also run into the treelines. It was going to be hell to find him in there. Katniss sighed, realizing there was only one thing she could do, and rushed towards the mess of trees and shrubbery that made up this city's forest. The treeline was dense, and Katniss couldn't see more than a few feet in front of her, and because of this she was more than a little off guard. She decided that the best thing to do now would be to take the high ground, and she was quick to do that as well. She rushed to one of the nearby trees, infested with vines, and began to climb, like she did during her first Hunger Games. Hiding in a tree was normally your best bet. Most people didn't bother looking up, so she was going to have the element of surprise on her side. Climbing up the tree was easy enough, given the foliage that grew all along it, as well as former experience. Her training had taught her to climb harder objects than this. She easily made it to one of the top branches, which could support her weight fairly well, and began to move along the treetops. Admittedly, it was far more dangerous than being on the ground when it came to moving, as she had to watch her step to make sure that she didn't plummet to the bottom, but she didn't care about that much. Instead, she hurried along the treetops, jumping from one branch to the next, moving with a surprising amount of grace. Her years of experience had taught her pretty well. It took a minute of running through the forest, but she eventually caught sight of the man, slowly moving along the forest, keeping close to the trees. He was several feet away from Katniss, and there was just barely an opening in the shrubbery and leaves for her to see him. Good, an easy shot. She moved her bow off her back and notched an arrow. She pulled back on the drawstring, taking a deep breath to take good aim on the survivor. This was it...she had to kill him. It was going to be quick, and silent. All she had to do was aim for the head. There was the sudden sound of a bird, right next to her, fluttering it's wings and cawing. She hadn't spotted it and it startled her so much that not only did it knock off her aim, but it made her let go of the arrow. Instead of impaling Rick in the head, it slammed into the tree and almost stabbed right through his hand, which admittedly would have been good for Katniss, but she missed even that. Rick moved back in surprise and followed where the arrow came from, which was where Katniss was notching another arrow into her bow as quickly as possible. She wasn't quick enough, however, and Rick pulled his revolver out of it's harness and fired at the girl. Katniss ducked just before the shot rang out, and narrowly missed a bullet to the forehead; a deadly accurate shot that could have ended the fight then and there. For a moment, she thought she still had a chance, or could at least hop out of the tree and run off, but the sherrif fired once agian, and this time, eh wasn't aiming for the girl. Instead, he hit the branch she was standing on. The impact from the bullet hitting the branch caused it to shake, and Katniss lost her footing entirely. She tried to balance herself, but it was too late. Katniss plummeted to the ground with as much grace as a falling boulder, screaming on the way down and landing, thankfully, on some bushes that cushioned her fall somewhat, but still left her in an uncomfortable amount of pain. She groaned, but didn't let her fall take her out of the fight. Still holding onto her bow, she was able to easily find the arrow on the ground, after it had fallen out of her bow, and notched it. She popped out of the bushes and immediately let go of the arrow, and her aim was surprisingly accurate for giving only a second's time to see where she was aiming. The arrow whized forward, and it actually flew true this once. It found itself embedded into the man's leg, causing him to cry out in pain once again. He winced, aimed his revolver, and fired. The bullet, like the arrow, found the intended target. It hit Katniss right on the hand that was holding the wooden part of the bow. She screamed out in pain as she dropped her main weapon. She stared down at her hands, breathing heavily as she realized the attack blew her damn fingers off. It only managed to blow off her middle and ring finger, but it was enough to make the girl go into a state of panic. She looked up, just in time to realize that Rick was coming at her with a small axe in hand, with his revolver in the other, and he was closing the distance incredibly quickly. Katniss' eyes widened and she pulled out her combat knife. She hoped she'd never have to use this, but evidently she did. She avoided the initial swipe of Rick's, and used this as an opportunity to slash at his chest. The blade cut through the clothes and left a nasty cut across his chest, but nothing deep or incapacitating. Rick winced in pain, but he wasn't going to let it get the best of him. He kicked Katniss in the leg, causing her to buckle over for a moment, almost taking a knee but not quite. He swung his axe down on her... There was a scream of pain form Katniss. It didn't hit her head. Rick wasn't aiming well with the weapon, and it got her in the back, and it felt like agony as the blade went deep into her flesh. She decided then and there to stab Rick in his other leg, the one that wasn't shot with the arrow. Rick's leg almost gave out entirely and he looked like he was about to fall over. This was her chance. Katniss moved forward, slamming her body into Rick's and sending the two of them to the ground with enough force for Rick to drop his revolver. It skidded across the ground and landed several feet away from the brawling two. Katniss realized that this was, in fact, her only chance to get a real finishing blow on the man. There was no way she could overpower him in a physical fight. Before she could even move towards the gun, Rick used all of his strength to throw her off of him. She landed on her back, digging the axe's blade deeper into her back and causing her to scream even futher. Walkers from all over were going to be attracted to her screams. This fight needed to end soon, before she was the cause of both of their deaths. They both scrambled to their feet, running towards the gun. For a moment, Katniss was about to pass by him, but he elbowed her out of the way before she could and, within a few seconds, he made it to his gun. He picked it up and turned around, knowing he had three good bullets left to put this girl down. He turned around just in time to see Katniss running at her with his own axe in hand, seeming to have pulled it out to use it in a last ditch effort to kill him. She charged forward, but Rick was more than prepared. One pull of the trigger, and the bullet sailed through and hit her in the chest. Katniss' entire body seized up for a moment, and she felt her legs give out from under her. She fell to her knees, feeling her heart pound in her chest. She placed a hand on the hole where the bullet had penetrated her body, and she could feel her hand shake as she saw it become covered in blood. She stared at Rick and watched him aim the barrel of the directly at her. "You're pretty good," He muttered to her, right before pulling the trigger. There was a bang, and then darkness. ... Katniss' eyes shot open and she immediately went into fight or flight mode, before remembering where she was. Right, she was...she was in DFederal, strapped into one of the battle simulation chambers. It was a big pod that she was told to stand in, and one that she was restrained to, apparently to make sure that she wouldn't move around during the sleep-like state they had to put them in for these simulations. She didn't know if they all worked like that, but...it was an experience. Of course, she had never done this before, so her initial reaction was panic, and then confusion. The door to the pod opened up, and she stumbled out. Those simulations were far too real for her liking... "Good job on your fight, Miss Everdeen," came a voice over an intercom that Katniss couldn't see. She recognized the voice. It was the girl, a teenager, that had directed her to this room in the first place. Someone around her age. What was her name? She...couldn't quite remember... "You can return to the lobby now, where Mr. Grimes is heading right now. Sorry about our battle that never happened. Complications, you know?" Right, that battle that was scheduled to happen, but didn't, and it had gotten her deported in the process. That was more than annoying, but at least she had a place to live now. She glanced to the door leading out of the simulation room and head out, taking a left down a hallway towards the Simulation Center Lobby, passing by several other closed doors, no doubt with many other people doing their own fights, just like her. At the lobby was where she spotted him again, a Mr. Rick Grimes. She didn't know why she was chosen to fight this man, but he seemed to be a very capable opponent, and a friendly one, too. He smiled at her as he walked towards the desk of the lobby, where the Blonde girl with the "Camp Half-Blood" shirt was standing. "Hey, that was a great fight," he said as they both moved towards the desk, Katniss still feeling a bit uncomfortable, as this man had just killed her not a few moments ago. "You almost got me there, I'd say. You did great." "You both did really well, actually, and congratulations to the two of you." The girl pulled out a pair of keys and gifted one key to each of the combatants. "Katniss, you're an official citizen of DFederal, and Mr. Grimes, you've accomplished your first win. Congratulations!" "Maybe I could even move out of the sewer at this point," Rick said with a chuckle, and Katniss had no idea how he could be so cheery about such a poor living condition. Was he actually living in the sewer...? "Still got a long way to go." "Well, actually..." The blonde typed on a nearby computer and stared at the screen, her eyes examining something. "According to some reports, Governor Skully had said that he was going to see if he can't get some of your losses removed. Good luck on that, I'll be hoping for some support for your cause." "Really?" He asked before whistling in appreciation. "Well, that is good news to hear! Seems like more good came outta this then I thought." The girl nodded and turned to Katniss. "You'll be escorted to your new home once you leave the building. Once again, great job, to the both of you." Katniss nodded and glanced to Rick, who looked a lot cheerier than he did even a few seconds ago. "So," he began to say. "now that you're a real citizen here, what do you plan on doing?" "Well, I'm probably just going to settle into my new home, and after that I'll see if-" The doors to the lobby slammed open, cutting Katniss off mid-sentence. She glanced towards the doors to see a little girl, younger than her, equipped with a sword, an odd looking outfit and several clearly visible guns, moving towards the desk, muttering to herself words that Katniss could only hear as she got closer. "...I can't fucking believe this. Outta my way." The young girl pushed Katniss out of the way and stepped to the desk, staring Annabeth in the eye. "Hi, my name's Hit-Girl. I'd like to schedule a fight, please." "Oh, uh, okay, Hit-Girl. And who would you like to-" The lobby door slammed opened yet again, this time to reveal a big man with polka dot pants, suspenders and-was his hair on fire!? "About time I caught you, again." The clown let out a scraggly chuckle as Katniss was worried that his head would set off the smoke alarms. "And at just the right place, too!" The girl let out a frustrated groan and slammed her hand against the table. "Alright, never fucking mind. Forget the fight. I want to schedule a rematch." She turned around and pointed at the man. Katniss could see the anger and killing intent in her eyes, like she was letting out pent up rage and aggression. "I want to fight this clown fucker. Right here, right now!" To be continued... Expert's Opinion While this was undoubtedly a close match, most believed that Katniss was found lacking in the weapons quality, but could make up for it with superior training, somewhat comparable speed and her impressive accuracy. However, Rick far surpassed her in experience and physicality, as well as arguably being more accurate than her. The zombie killer turned the girl on fire into a burning corpse Category:Blog posts